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Effects of Soil-injected Ethylene on Yields of Cotton and Sorghum¹

Virtually no results have been reported on the use of ethylene in the root zones of intact plants. This report is unique because of the increase of yield on cotton and sorghum through the use of soil-injected ethylene.

For two consecutive years ethylene was applied to cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) as a soil treatment at 1.59 and 3.14 kg/ha, at three different stages of plant development and in three soil moisture tension regimes (0 to 30, 0 to 50 and 0 to 70 centibars). In the first study (1970) yield was increased 25% by ethylene treatment in the 0- to 30-centibar moisture regime. While in the 0- to 50-centibar and 0- to 70-centibar regimes the yields from the ethylene treated plots were higher than those of the untreated plots the differences were not statistically significant. In th second study (1971) lint cotton yield was significantly increased 12% in the 0- to 70-centibar moisture regime. Micronaire and staple length were not significantly affected by the ethylene treatments in the 1970 or the 1971 study.

In a similar study in 1970 on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench.), ethylene was injected into the soil at a rate of 1.59 and 3.14 kg/ha at the 6 to 7- and 9- to 10-leaf stages of growth. Although yields were higher in some cases, the differences were not significant at the 5% level of probability. The second study (1971) on sorghum gave a 13% significant yield increase when ethylene was injected into the soil at a rate of 1.59 kg/ha at the 6- to 7-leaf stage.

Key Words: Ethylene-auxin interaction • Plant hormone • Hydrocarbon

² Laboratory Technician (now Senior Research Agronomist with The Great Western Sugar Co., Longmont, Colo.), Associate Professor, Texas A&M University Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Lubbock, Texas 79401, and Research Manager, International Minerals and Chemical Corporation, Libertyville, Illinois 60048, respectively.

Received for publication November 15, 1971.